


find my space someplace in between

by Suicix



Series: september boys [1]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crushes, Domestic, Established Park Jinyoung | Jr./Mark Tuan, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Pining, Pre-Poly, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suicix/pseuds/Suicix
Summary: All Youngjae knows is that the quiet, careful ways Jinyoung looks out for him make his heart beat harder the same way that Mark’s smile does.[set in the same universe asrhythm after summer]





	find my space someplace in between

**Author's Note:**

> so!! i wrote more in my au with these three (still currently the only fic that features this ship.......), which can be seen linked in the summary and from the fact that it's in a series etc etc. this obviously takes place quite a while before that fic, before youngjae is actually a part of mark and jinyoung's relationship.

Youngjae can’t be quite sure how he ended up here, but he definitely isn’t going to complain about it, not when _here_ is Mark and Jinyoung’s apartment, sitting on the couch with a PS4 controller in his hands, his eyes on the TV and his thumbs on the buttons as he plays against Mark. He’s been at their place once before, but that was with others there, too, whereas this evening it’s only the three of them. The three of them and Coco, of course. She’s lounging in her basket to one side of the TV, and Youngjae thinks she’s pretty much the cutest dog in the world.

What really matters, though, is that Youngjae’s the only guest right now. That Jinyoung and Mark invited _him_ to come over, that they want _him_ here, _his_ company. He’s really trying not to read into it at all, knows there can’t be anything there anyway because the two of them are already together, but even just getting to spend some time with them and the fact that they want him here is nice, is enough. Just because he thinks he feels – something, whatever it is, it doesn’t mean it should be acted on.

They’re just – they’re so nice to him, and they always seem to be interested in what he has to say, and not to mention that they’re both super interesting as well. Youngjae can’t envision himself wanting to go and study somewhere halfway across the world where he’d have to learn a whole new language and culture, and he certainly can’t imagine wanting to stay there afterwards, so far away from family and old friends and everything he grew up with. Just coming from Mokpo to Seoul has been enough for him.

Well – maybe if he met someone like Jinyoung while he was away, he _would_ stay.

And that’s what Mark did, and now both he and Jinyoung have graduated and are happy together with their own apartment and a dog and jobs that seem to manage to pay the bills just fine. Youngjae can’t imagine having his life so together in two or three years’ time, when he’ll be the same age they are now. He doesn’t even really know what he wants to do once he’s done with university, just wishes it was easier to do something in music.

Youngjae wills himself to snap out of it and focus on the game instead, mashing harder at the buttons. He’s doing pretty well, better than earlier when Mark somehow managed to completely blindside him and come up with a win, but even though it’s only a video game, he still wants to impress Mark.

He glances over and Mark seems to notice, turning his head a little to look at Youngjae and grinning. There’s a little bit of competitive fire in his eyes, but for the most part, it’s just pure warmth. It makes Youngjae want to melt, and that should be _wrong_ , given that Mark is his friend and, more importantly, that Mark has a boyfriend who he _lives with_ who is sitting right there on the couch beside him, but–

But it’s not even just Mark, is the thing. It’s Jinyoung, too, and Youngjae doesn’t know what to do with that. Is it a common thing, developing a crush on a couple like this? Watching them together and not wanting to be one of them because it’s their love that you’re falling in love with? Watching them together and wanting those same loving looks to be directed at you as well, wanting to be able to fit in neatly without disrupting anything? Again, Youngjae doesn’t know. All he knows is that the quiet, careful ways Jinyoung looks out for him make his heart beat harder the same way that Mark’s smile does.

The controller Youngjae’s holding vibrates in his hands and he swears he nearly jumps off the couch in shock. He looks at the TV: Mark’s character’s killed his for the second time now and how it happened is replaying on the screen as the game waits for one of them to press the button to continue.

“Unlucky.” Jinyoung’s been half watching them play and half looking at his phone, but now he’s set his phone down on the coffee table and is the one smiling at Youngjae, cool and serene. When Mark starts up another round of the game, Jinyoung sprawls across the couch so his head’s in Mark’s lap, almost where the controller is as if he’s trying to be the perfect easy distraction, trying to help Youngjae win. He seems unusually soft today, dressed in sweatpants and what Youngjae is sure is one of Mark’s hoodies instead of the neat trousers and button-ups he normally wears. It really doesn’t mean anything, is just him wearing comfortable clothes because he’s at home, but it feels like it does – like it shows how relaxed he is about inviting Youngjae into his and Mark’s space.

This time, Youngjae wins. How much of that is his own skill and how much of it is Jinyoung lying across Mark’s lap, he doesn’t know, but _still_. He laughs so loudly that Coco lifts her head up to look at him, and even though Mark looks a little alarmed at the volume, but soon enough he’s laughing, too, simply because Youngjae is. Laughing _with_ him, never at him.

When Youngjae recovers, he’s drawn to the glowing numbers on the digital clock underneath the television, and when did it get this _late?_ He supposes he should have expected time to fly when he was over here.

“Hey.” Jinyoung seems to be thinking the same thing. He pries the controller from Mark’s hands and gently pokes him in the side before sitting up again. “Time for dinner, I think.”

Time for Youngjae to go, then.

“I guess I better leave you guys to it,” he says quickly, just to show that he doesn’t expect them to put up with him staying here, eating their food. He sets his own controller aside and is about to stand and start getting ready to leave when Mark waves a hand at him like he wants Youngjae to stay seated.

“Oh, no, you can stay here and eat if you want,” Mark tells him, and honestly, that sounds – tempting. More than tempting. “And it’s my turn to cook tonight, so there’s no need to worry about Jinyoung killing us with something he’s made.”

“Excuse you?” Jinyoung clutches at his chest, mock-offended. “I’m not the one who thinks adding cut up frankfurters to ramyeon is fine dining.”

“Only for a snack!” Mark exclaims. “Not as a full meal or anything.”

“I’d eat that,” Youngjae says, honest. Mark beams at him.

“Not tonight, though.” Jinyoung’s tone is firm. From that, it seems like he’s decided that Youngjae’s going to be staying. “Tonight…”

“We order in?” Mark asks innocently. He’s still smiling, eyes a little sly – it’s obvious he’s joking.

“Hyung, you’re not ducking out of your turn to cook,” says Jinyoung. “Not when you think you can insult my cooking and we’ve got perfectly good food here.”

Youngjae glances between them, amused. It’s so good-natured that it’s hardly even bickering at all, just playful teasing with no consequences, and there’s something so painfully domestic about the fact that they take turns cooking dinner unless they get takeout or go out to eat. (Somewhere in the back of Youngjae’s mind, he’s trying to slot himself into their schedule, trying to learn where everything is in their kitchen, trying to perfect dishes he’s never even made once before. He tells himself _no_ , that it’s something that can’t ever possibly happen, but his brain leaps ahead of him and he’s left with a vision of himself serving something up and Mark and Jinyoung proudly beaming at him from around their tiny dining table. All this and Youngjae barely even knows how to cook, _god_. He’s in deeper than he thought.)

“OK, OK,” Mark says. The laugh in his voice is audible. “I’m cooking, don’t worry. Youngjae – is there anything you’d particularly like or that you won’t eat?”

“I don’t mind,” Youngjae says automatically, because just the fact that they’re so committed to letting him stay is enough. He might not have actually asked for this, but he wants it, so it isn’t right to ask for anything more. Thinking about it, though, maybe he does mind, just a little bit. “Nothing with cucumber in though, if that’s all right. I just – I really don’t like it.”

“Of course that’s all right.” Mark’s standing up now, about to make his way to the kitchen. “No cucumber – got it.”

Youngjae bows his head a little in thanks as Mark heads off. They’re too good to him, really. They’re too good to him, and it’s making him want impossible things, things he’d probably be too embarrassed to ever even try to articulate to either of them, but between Mark’s firm, easy promise of _no cucumber_ and the way Jinyoung shuffles across the couch to sit closer to him, Youngjae can’t quite bring himself to care that he’ll never get it. This is more than enough – isn’t it?

**Author's Note:**

> i love these three and i really REALLY couldn't resist referencing mark's "mark meal". thanks for reading, everyone - you can also find me on tumblr @ vibetechs!!


End file.
